News and Notes from the Writing Desk: January Edition

January tends to be the time when everyone has that push to do more and find a new rhythm. I'm no different, so there are a lot of plans that have been put into place.

The Cost of Publication

As I've talked about before, I don't really like paying people to read my work. But there are occasions where contest fees and application fees are necessary. I try to keep these costs low. Because there are some great opportunities right now, I'm going to be spending my entry fee budget for the next three months split over three opportunities: two short story contests and one residency application. I carefully considered the fees against the opportunity, the top prize, and confidence in my work. I'm happy with my decisions and can't wait to get these entries turned in. The only hiccup? One of the short stories I want to enter is still technically being considered by another publication. But they've had it since September, so I don't know whether I'm going to get a rejection/acceptance in time, or whether I'm going to have to finally finish one of my other stories that I have been neglecting.

Recent Publications

As promised, I'm starting to write reviews for movies that I watch when I know I should be spending that time doing more productive things. I plan on continuing to review at least two movies a week, so I should be generating plenty of content for Medium this year. So far, I've published "From Cornfields to the Edge of Cool", a review of a 1957 James Dean documentary. I'm still in the process of writing the review for Jenny, a TV movie starring Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda. I will continue to stick to those odd, rare, and vintage titles because I don't watch a lot of modern movies, and those titles have plenty of people out there to review them anyway. I'm using Pluto TV, Tubi, and YouTube to find them, and there are plenty I can't wait to get to, including some light horror. But I'm not taking any chances--I will be watching those titles during the day, even if they are super cheesy when it comes to the scare factor.

In Process

I'm still working on my pilot script. It's going... okay. I'm having a hard time coming up with new scenes to meet my page count, so I may work on the show bible this weekend instead of those scenes. Also, I should finish a new short story to have it on deck, ready to go. I have at least six half-finished, so I have plenty to choose from. Aside from the residency application, poetry is taking a backseat for the rest of the month. I feel creative and energized, so the rest of January should go smoothly.

Into the Thick of It

This weekend I started to look for residencies and fellowships for poetry and fiction. I want to be able to explore more of the country/world without having to sacrifice the writing part of my life in order to fund it. These residencies seem pretty cool... until I got down to the requirements. Some of the cooler ones had to fall by the wayside because I am not pursuing a graduate degree in creative writing, nor do I want to.

I did find some really cool ones that don't require GRE scores, a mound of transcripts and the dreaded letters of recommendation. I'm now spending what little time of each day I have left to fill out all the required applications, sample work, etc. Most of these programs have already chosen 2013 participants, so I have plenty of time for figuring it all out. However, there is one poetry fellowship I want to apply to that is due at the end of March and will be awarded in August. It's not a residency, but it does has a significant cash award. What's the harm in trying?After all, I've seem to found a little bit of confidence and pride in my work in the last few days. That's the biggest half of the battle.

Other than that, I'm steadily adding to the poetry and short story portfolio. I think March will be dedicated to revisions so I don't get too carried away with it all.